Modern Media Studies

MMS, Vol. 2, No. 1, 2026, pp.65-83.

Print ISSN: 3078-3151; Online ISSN: 3104-5049

Journal homepage: https://www.mmsjournal.com 

DOI: Https://doi.org/10.64058/mms260107rogmc

Readjustment of Orientalist Gaze: “Made in China” in Western Documentaries

Yang Zhifei, Yang    Jing

Abstract: Western documentaries about China have always been subject to the framework of orientalist gaze, such as the chronicle of warfare in Attack on a China Mission (1900) and The Battle of China (1944), the travelogues in Peking and Its Surroundings (1910) and Shanghai’s Great World (1929), as well as the exploration of Communist Utopia in Chung Kuo (1972) and Images de Chine (1974). Against China’s rising global manufacturing output, “Made in China” has become a recurrent motif in a surge of Western documentaries. BBC’s The Chinese Are Coming (2011) and Click: Designed in China (2016) arouse heated discussion in China, revealing a readjustment of Orientalist gaze. Unlike The Chinese Are Coming, which positions China as an object of judgment or an external threat, Click: Designed in China shifts the narrative toward technological capabilities and innovation, highlighting the challenges China faces amid its rapid industrial and technological rise. This paper analyzes the transformation of the image of “Made in China,” arguing that while the discourse in Click: Designed in China has undergone some adjustments, it still operates under the gaze of Orientalism. And the transition from manufacturing to innovation should be understood as its strategic readjustment under changing global power relations.

Keywords: Documentaries; Made in China; Orientalism; The Chinese Are Coming; Click: Designed in China

Author Biographies: Yang Zhifei, Master’s Candidate, Comparative Cultural Studies, Faculty of English Language and Culture, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies. Research interests: Film Culture. E-mail: 3193491080@qq.com. Yang Jing (Corresponding Author), Professor, Faculty of English Language and Culture, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies. Research interests: Cross-cultural studies, Film Studies, British and American Literature. E-mail: 199910233@gdufs.edu.cn.

Received: 29 Mar 2026 / Revised: 23 Apr 2026 / Accepted: 27 Apr 2026 / Published online: 30 Apr 2026 / Print published: 30 May 2026.